In the shadowy forest, a two-man squad moved on in silence, one before the other.

They were covered in mud, looking tired and bedraggled, alertly watching their surroundings, seeming to know they were in a dangerous place, wary in every single motion.

Suddenly, the soldier slightly to the rear changed expression, plopped down on his butt, and muttered, "Did that damn apothecary swap in inferior herbs again?" as he yanked off his boot and gave it a hard shake.

A venomous insect the length of a finger was flung out of the boot. The soldier reacted fast, whipped out a dagger, and stabbed hard; the insect was instantly cut in two.

Emerald fluid splashed, and the insect’s bisected body writhed, still letting out sharp squeaking sounds.

Though long accustomed to such things, the soldier still couldn’t help a look of disgust, shaking his head and sighing:

"Sigh, how long is this crap going to keep up…"

"Stop complaining."

A steady voice came, and a leather boot lifted and came down hard, grinding the not-quite-dead insect into scraps.

"The mission comes first."

"Oh."

Seeing the captain’s face like someone owed him several thousand Emil—and remembering he actually did owe him several thousand Emil—the soldier shrank his neck, pulled his boot back on, and sprang nimbly to his feet.

The thick humidity had already soaked the inside of his boots, and with the non-breathable leather jerkin, he felt like he was shrouded in a steamer. After the temperature dropped at night, a chill set in; the soldier felt his body heat rapidly draining away, his hands and feet already icy.

He could only rely on constant movement to maintain his body temperature.

But in a hellhole like this, the exertion consumed a truly staggering amount of strength.

This was a dense and sinister jungle; apart from venomous insects all over the ground and crows flapping and cawing among the branches of the giant trees, there were basically no other living creatures.

If we die here, there probably won’t even be a whole corpse left.

Imagining his body being picked apart by insects and crows, the soldier couldn’t help letting out another long, weary sigh.

He was a new recruit who had only been in the army for a few months, originally thinking to scrape by on army pay and, along the way, punch those eyesore Kingdom savages up north. That was why he chose the border troops under the renowned Count Eller.

But to his surprise, he hadn’t seen a single Kingdom savage before being assigned to carry out such a fucked-up task.

Find someone.

And find someone in a forest this vast.

This was as absurd as trying to fish a needle out of the ocean. From the soldier’s prior experience, an ordinary person staying in a place like this for just a few days would already be food in a crow’s belly.

And the person they were supposed to find had reportedly been missing for almost a month. What was the point in looking?

"Captain, I mean, shouldn’t this be something for those mage lords to do? Wouldn’t it be easier?"

The soldier couldn’t help but complain:

"I heard those mage lords can do anything, soaring to the heavens and burrowing into the earth. Finding a person should be simple, right? Like this—just a few biubiubiu of magic. I saw those mage lords from afar once; they looked so majestic when they cast."

The soldier punctuated his words with wildly exaggerated gestures, as if he were already in the moment.

"I’m not really sure either."

The captain took out a dry pipe and puffed on it with soft clicks, while his long blade skillfully cut a path:

"I only heard that a very terrifying existence has awakened in this forest. The stronger one is, the more likely one is to attract that thing’s attention."

The soldier’s face changed: "Then we…"

"Relax."

The captain glanced at him: "You barely have two taels of meat on you—would it even fancy you?"

"That’s true, hehe."

The soldier scratched his head.

"But I still find it strange. At first our orders were just to hold outside the forest, so why did they suddenly change two days ago? If we’re looking for someone, aren’t the first few days the most important? Starting the search after a month—there won’t even be bone crumbs left."

"I’m not really sure. I only heard the initial orders came from Count Eller, but two days ago someone from up top arrived, said something to Count Eller, and then we received orders to come inside and look for the person."

Here the captain paused, then lowered his voice:

"Word has it the one we’re looking for is a noble family’s young lady!"

"…I see."

The soldier wore a look of sudden understanding, then sighed along:

"Lord Count Eller is a good lord."

"Yes, the Count is certainly a good lord—that’s the consensus in our border force—but…"

The captain sighed: "Not all noble lords are that good."

"Yeah."

The soldier pursed his lips: "I only joined up because the lord back home is so rotten—high taxes, and he even steals men’s wives, so I…"

The captain’s expression hardened: "Silence! You can’t just spout that kind of talk!"

"I know. I only say that sort of thing to you out here in the deep mountains and forests…"

The soldier took out his canteen to drink, shook it and found it empty. He grumbled a few more lines, then continued:

"But I still think something’s off. If they really wanted us to search carefully, it shouldn’t be like this."

The soldier pointed at himself, then at the captain.

A group of two.

For searching a forest, this was a very stupid approach, because just two people couldn’t properly watch each other’s backs, nor could they spread out to search.

In the soldier’s view, this approach… was only to make limited manpower look more imposing.

Mm, hundreds of men forming more than a hundred small squads, reporting search updates day and night—it did sound impressively grand.

"Who knows. We don’t dare speculate about the ideas of the lords above."

The captain tapped his pipe ash against a nearby trunk, ending the dangerous topic.

He glanced at the soldier’s still youthful face, and his expression softened a bit:

"Let’s stop here for tonight—camp on the spot and rest. I’ll get a fire going; you go fetch some water at the lakeside."

The captain pointed at a small lake not far off.

"Got it!"

Hearing they could rest, the soldier, exhausted to the bone, suddenly felt a surge of energy. He snatched up the captain’s canteen and hurried toward the lake.

The lake wasn’t large, but its waters were crystal clear.

There were no trees blocking the lakeside, so the brilliant stars were reflected on the surface.

The soldier felt nothing special; he was already sick of these dry, dull stars. They weren’t half as nice to look at as the white, bouncy breasts of those saucy little minxes in the city you have to pay to see.

Left with nothing else to do, the soldier watched the glug-glug bubbles surging up from the canteen’s mouth.

Caw—

Suddenly, a crow flew over his head, startling him into a stumble; he almost fell into the lake.

"Damn it, dead bird!"

The soldier cursed: "Believe it or not, I’ll pluck your feathers and make you tonight’s supper!"

The crow streaked off like a black bolt of lightning, vanishing into the night.

The soldier lowered his head, only to find that in his fright, the canteen had slipped from his hand and was sinking into the lake.

"Dammit."

He cursed again.

In a forest this sweltering even in daylight, water was vital; the canteen could not be lost.

The soldier hurriedly bent down and reached for the canteen.

To stretch his arm far enough, he even dipped his head into the lake.

The lake water was icy and clear. By the starlight blanketing the sky, the soldier could see the canteen sinking fast.

But just as his fingers were about to touch it, he noticed that in the lake… there seemed to be more than just the canteen.

A twisted black shadow was squirming not far from it, and was rapidly growing.

No! It wasn’t growing!

The shadow was closing in fast!

The soldier jerked his head up, but at that same instant, the shadow broke the surface!

Terror seized his features, and its horrifying true form was reflected in his eyes.

It was… a huge tentacle as thick as a bucket!

"Ma… magical beast!"

The soldier cried out, but perhaps from fear, his body froze for a heartbeat, and he could only stare as the tentacle hurtled toward him!

"Idiot, now is not the time to daze off!"

A harsh shout snapped the soldier out of it. The seasoned captain lunged forward, and with a bold slash of his long sword, struck at the tentacle.

Scales covered the tentacle; the blade only opened a small nick.

Luckily, the tentacle still writhed in pain. The captain seized the chance to yank the soldier back to gain distance.

But before the two could breathe a sigh of relief, the lake heaved into great waves, and a massive shadow surfaced like a small hill!

It was an enormous octopus!

Its variegated skin was vividly bright under the starlight. More tentacles reached up from the lakebed, and the small protruding eyes on either side gazed at the two on the shore—cold and bloodthirsty.

"Wh… why? Wasn’t it said there are no magical beasts in this forest?"

The soldier’s face went pale.

"No, this isn’t a magical beast."

The captain’s expression grew solemn, and he said:

"There’s no magical flux on it—it’s just a bigger-than-usual brute!"

"Then we…"

"What do you mean ‘we’? Even if it’s just a brute, it’s not something we can handle!"

The captain suddenly lunged, pressing the soldier’s head down, and turned to flee.

At the same time, a thick arm-tentacle swept past the spot where the soldier had been, smashing a giant boulder to pieces!

Cold sweat broke out on the soldier at once. He didn’t care about anything else; though after a day’s trek his stamina was at its limit, he still squeezed out every last bit of his potential.

"If I’d known, I wouldn’t have blown all my money on whoring—would’ve been better to eat meat two more times."

For the first time, the soldier felt irredeemable regret for his wasted earlier days.

"Fuck that, now’s not the time to bawl! If you want to cry, wait till we get back and go cry on a woman’s belly!"

The captain smacked a palm onto the soldier’s back, gritted his teeth, and pulled a spherical metal device from his bosom.

Imperial-issue Type III Alchemical Bomb!

A precious piece of kit issued from above, not many in number. With his rank as captain, he was only entitled to receive one.

But right now, that didn’t matter.

Without much hesitation, the captain primed the alchemical bomb and hurled it straight at the enormous octopus behind them.

Boom!

A deafening roar shook the forest, firelight lit the sky, countless crows rose in the distance, and the massive shock and heat made both their backs sting.

The octopus was swallowed by the flames.

But before the captain could show any relief, the octopus that had taken the bomb head-on started moving again.

The tentacles writhed in the flames, like a crazed dancing giant python!

The bomb had only blown off one of its arms, and that very arm was even sprouting buds of flesh, recovering at a speed visible to the naked eye. The octopus’s massive body swelled as if being filled with water!

The captain couldn’t judge how much substantive damage the explosion had inflicted on the octopus, but he knew that what he had just done had thoroughly enraged the monster!

“Move!”

The captain pushed the soldier, who had just tried to turn his head, to keep running, and taking advantage of the octopus’s advance being stalled by the bomb, the two darted into the woods.

“Quick... throw the weapons and run!”

Neither man held much rank; they didn’t even qualify to wear real armor. All they had were soft armor stitched from animal hide and a standard-issue longsword.

But judging by the attack just now, such a standard longsword were utterly ineffective against the octopus at all and was instead only a burden.

Normally a longsword wouldn't be a burden, but at this moment their stamina was nearly spent!

The two hesitated little, threw away their weapons, and kept fleeing with all their might.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The pounding continued to sound behind them.

This forest was unlike ordinary forests: the trees were extremely tall, but because of that, the spacing between them wasn’t dense, and it couldn’t serve to hinder the octopus’s movements at all.

The octopus’s arms writhed and, even on land, it was not slow in the slightest. Its tentacles swept across those trees, leaving horrifying scars on the bark of these trees at this stage!

The two had no heart left to marvel at such things and only wished they could summon every last ounce of their strength.

But their speed was ultimately no match for the gigantic monster. At this rate, they would be overtaken sooner or later.

What to do... Is it going to end like this?

The captain’s mind raced, yet he had no solution.

What he had learned from a few years of grinding in the army was not enough to let him handle such a terrifying monster.

But...

In the despair that was closing in, the soldier’s eyes suddenly lit up. Pointing not far ahead and panting heavily, he said:

“C-captain... look there...”

“What?”

The captain’s peripheral vision swept over, and his heart leaped with joy.

Because right up ahead, in the shrub-thick area, there was actually a cave!

The cave was only one person high; given the octopus’s size, it absolutely couldn’t squeeze in.

Moreover, after the captain’s slash just now, he knew clearly that this monster was definitely not the kind of soft-bodied creature that could shrink its body to something tiny.

He didn’t know what kind of creature’s cave it was, but in this forest he had never heard of bears, and in any case it was better than the monster chasing behind them.

All they could hope was that it was deep enough.

“We’re going in!”

The captain clenched his teeth and charged toward the cave with the soldier.

But, when the cave was less than ten meters away and hope seemed right before their eyes...

Boom—

A python-like tentacle went over them and slammed down upon the cave.

As earth and stone flew, the two could only watch in despair as the cave that held their only path to survival was completely smashed in.

“It’s over...”

Both of them involuntarily stopped, for there was nowhere left to run.

The massive octopus halted as well, and in the small eyes protruding on both sides, a humanlike sneer appeared.

As though all it had done just now was merely to toy with the prey before it.

And now, the toying was over.

“Damn it...”

In the final moment of his life, the captain looked at the soldier beside him, terrified to tears, and let out a resentful sigh.

They had clearly agreed he would help this kid find a wife, but unexpectedly... in the end he still broke his promise.

As a captain, he was truly unfit...

What a pity...

The sound of howling wind rose.

A dark shadow lunged at the captain at a speed nearly impossible for the naked eye to catch. He did not futilely struggle again; he simply held the soldier in his arms to shield him and, in his heart, prayed to the goddess he believed in.

Because he knew that in the face of imminent death, all struggle was meaningless...

“Ah, what’s going on.”

But then, perhaps the goddess heard his prayer, and another voice abruptly rang out, actually forcing that irresistible death to... halt.

The captain’s eyes widened in shock.

In front of him, the octopus’s movements came to an abrupt stop; the small eyes on both sides of its huge head watched the direction of the collapsed cave with extreme wariness.

The voice came from there:

“I finally managed to get out, only to be greeted this warmly?”

“It really... doesn’t make one happy.”

As that voice grew colder, the octopus’s arm that had reached out to smash the cave and had not yet been pulled back suddenly... shattered.

Yes, shattered.

Just like that, abruptly... shattered.

A sword-light so ferocious it made the night brighten for an instant came crashing down upon the tentacle. In a split second, flesh and blood spattered, and foul, viscous slime sprayed everywhere.

The octopus’s limbs convulsed wildly, and it let out a piercing screech.

At that moment, rage completely filled its not-so-developed brain, making it even forget the trace of threat it had felt just now.

But before it could even launch an attack, from the collapsed mass of earth and stone, a... massive blade emerged.

Lava-like crimson coursed along the blade. It pointed toward the octopus’s direction and delivered a light, airy slash.

It looked like a child swinging a toy, utterly without force.

However.

In an instant.

The earth and stone were cut open.

The ground was cut open.

The octopus was cut open.

Everything before the longsword was cut open.

And this time, before the octopus could even let out a screech, fierce flames ignited, enveloping it.

The stench of charring quickly spread. The octopus struggled madly, but it was all in vain.

No matter how powerful its regenerative ability, it could not withstand that overwhelming slash, nor those searing flames.

It could only be casually reduced to ash by a yet more terrifying power.

“This...”

Seeing a monster so formidable that, by their calculations, it would take at least a hundred-man formation to deal with it, killed so easily, the captain and the soldier both shuddered in unison, nearly wetting themselves again, and stared in stark terror at the slender figure amid the cleaved earth and stone.

Star-like motes rose and fell with the figure’s breathing; a mighty aura surged upon her slight frame. In that moment, the figure seemed to be the center of the world, and even her heartbeat made everything tremble along with it.

They recalled the earlier rumors and thought to themselves: Could this be the fearsome presence in the forest?

Yet that fearsome presence seemed to have no intention of paying attention to these two ants. She merely lifted her head, long hair flying, and gazed up at the sky with a trace of wistfulness:

“So this is... what the Fourth Rank feels like? To break through to the Fourth Rank in only a month—this speed can be called astonishing, right. Unprecedented? Perhaps. I can only say it’s worthy of being an ancient relic; the harvest was considerable.”

“But... even after I cleared the entire relic, I never saw your figure. Lea, you weren’t in the relic at all. Where are you?”